Program Still Developing Employee Leadership Five Years Later

WINTERVILLE�Pitt Community College�s commitment to professional development for faculty and staff continued this month with a program designed to help employees build leadership skills.

Held in New Bern Oct. 12-13, 29 college employees participated in the college�s 6th Annual Leadership Institute. The program featured seminars and activities designed to foster interaction among attendees while encouraging them to think about how they could contribute their leadership qualities to the college�s educational mission.

Dr. Brian Miller, who helps coordinate the institute each year as PCC�s Assistant to the President and Director of Institutional Effectiveness, said the program was created with the philosophy that leadership is measured by contribution, not position.

�The program is also about forming professional relationships and fostering college coherence,� he added.

This year�s opening remarks were delivered by Dr. Scott Ralls, president of the North Carolina Community College System, who stressed the importance of forward-thinking and retention at community colleges.

Ralls said the number of students completing their programs of study and graduating each spring is much more important than the number of students enrolling each fall.

Dr. Cheryl McFadden, associate professor in East Carolina University�s Department of Educational Leadership, was this year�s featured presenter. She stressed that good leaders possess qualities outlined in the �Four Frames of Leadership� by L.G. Bolman and T.E. Deal.

PCC held its first leadership institute in 2004. Two years later, the program was part of a national report on leadership development in community colleges published through the American Association of Community Colleges� Leading Forward Initiative.

The 55-page document stated that PCC �takes its mission to educate and empower people for success seriously� and that its leadership institute is a program for schools across the country to emulate.

Since its inception, Miller said more than 270 PCC employees have participated in the leadership institute.

10/20/2009